Coincident with athletics is body contact either with other participants or with a hard surface such as the ground or a floor. Consequently, many different types of protective pads have been developed and used for many years to shield anatomical portions of the participant during an athletic event.
Often the type of padding depends on the portion of the participant's anatomy that is subjected to anticipated blows. For example, the type of padding required by a football player varies from that required by a hockey player, a soccer player, a volleyball player or a baseball player. Thus, historically, a wide range and sequence of designs in protective pads has evolved over many years in connection with athletic environments. The earlier designs were rather crude such as those employed in the United States at the turn of the century and, of course, the modern constructions are considerably more complex.
Certain types of sports have required more extensive padding such as football where there is severe body and ground contact during the entire game. Other sports such as baseball have required lesser padding with baseball predominantly being concerned with sliding pads.
Naturally, there are certain portions of the athlete which required protection most often, for example, the head, the shoulders, the hip, pelvic and kidney areas, the chest, and the elbows. Accordingly, quite diverse padding arrangements have been developed over the years for these and other areas of the body.
Protection, of course, is the primary concern. However the padding must be such that it provides for minimum discomfort to the athlete while providing minimum interference with the athlete's flow of action in carrying out the athlete endeavors. Also of concern is ease of application and removal of the padding, both prior to and subsequent to the athletic event without producing undesirable displacement or loss of the pads during the action sequences. Thus, various types of elastic portions are provided in conjunction with different types of padding and many types of fastener elements are employed, such as belts with buckles, lacing and in connection with more recent products, fasteners of the Velcro type.
There are certain sports where better protective padding arrangements and assemblies are still desirable and have not been satisfactorily developed. For example, volleyball is one of those sports. In particular, the hip and pelvic areas is subjected to severe punishment primarily due to floor contact during the volleyball events. Effective volleyball padding has not been available particularly padding which can be quickly and effectively put on by the athlete largely independent of the size of the athlete and adjusted to accommodate the athlete's movement during the volleyball action while consistently protecting the hip and pelvic area. Since playing conditions often change as well as the player's position and activity in the game, it is often desirable to quickly and efficiently remove pads and at particular points in time during the action. Accordingly, there is a need for an effective hip pad assembly that can be used by the volleyball player at different times during the action of the game without having to retire to the dressing room or the sidelines to put on or remove the pads.
In summary, it is apparent from the types of pads available in the marketplace that a variety of different types of protective athletic pads have been developed over the years to protect various portions of the body including the hip area. However, it is clear that there is still room for improvement in hip pad design in order to accomplish the above results, particularly in connection with sports such as volleyball or soccer.